Recognizing false diligence is the first urgent goal of struggle.

Colleague Xiao A asked for leave with his boss to travel to Thailand a month ago. Two weeks before leaving, the company started a new project that had been under discussion for half a year, and Xiao A was the person in charge of the new project. Little A is in a dilemma. If he doesn’t go on vacation, the group registration fee will be wasted. If he goes on vacation, he will still need to make overall arrangements in the early stages of the new project, and his girlfriend Xiaoli will definitely be unhappy with his failure to make the appointment. So, the itinerary continued as usual.

A week later, Little A returned. We asked if Thailand is fun, if the sea water is really that blue, and if the relationship with my girlfriend is sweeter? Little A had a look of helplessness on his face, "Stop talking, even though he was on vacation abroad, his heart was focused on domestic projects." Even during the scheduled romantic candlelight dinner at the beach, I kept answering the phone. My girlfriend was very unhappy, thinking that I was perfunctory with her, and we even got into a fight.

Back then, I should have made a decisive decision and quit the group.

Obviously, Little A was diligent when he shouldn’t be. What does this mean?

Diligence is divided into stages. Understanding the situation is the prerequisite for hard work.

Trying to get ahead at the wrong stage can ruin other parts of your life. While on vacation, I was still focused on work. As a result, I was not having fun and was not efficient at work.

Diligence requires direction.

Maybe you think that diligence means filling your life and keeping yourself busy in your spare time. This understanding is completely wrong. Diligence means grasping the core point and working hard for it.

Many office workers sign up for many interest classes in their spare time, hoping to improve their quality of life. You will see an endless stream of various interest classes on the market, such as dance classes, painting classes, English classes, etc. Some people feel that they want to learn everything, so they juggle between different courses every day. Dance class 135, English class 246, and concentrate on painting on weekends.

Remember, human energy is limited. No matter how good your time management is, it can't add 25 hours to a day. It just condenses the time and energy to study into a limited 24 hours. Either improve efficiency or reduce the time necessary every day. My suggestion is to make choices and be diligent in your direction.

The most important purpose of participating in interest classes is to improve the quality of life, whether it is financial or tasteful. Is rushing to study like a top what you want? More importantly, have you carefully reviewed and absorbed the knowledge learned in the limited courses and added it to your own knowledge system? Whether everything will be fine after taking the class. I don’t know how many people would be the latter, but I know there must be a lot of them.

I saw a photography article on Zhihu a few days ago, which mentioned Dietrams’ design philosophy - less is more. This concept can also be applied in life. Diligence does not mean more is better. The essence of diligence lies in excellence, not more. This is also the craftsman spirit that has been advocated recently.

Diligence means more attempts.

Before inventing the electric light, Edison tried more than 1,600 heat-resistant luminescent materials in three years, and finally settled on carbonized bamboo filament as the filament. We ordinary people need to try more. If something fails, it may be that you are not diligent enough, or it may be that your direction and assumptions were wrong from the beginning.

Only more attempts and more trial and error will help you achieve success.

Success is a by-product of hard work, not an inevitable outcome. Diligence may not necessarily lead to success, but lack of diligence will definitely not lead to success. When a door is closed, we need to find its window.

When you really achieve the desired results, please don't regret your "stupidity" in the early stage. We need to be flexible in looking at decisions at different times. You must believe that your decision is the best under the limited conditions at that time.

Raise your head to recognize the direction you are going, lower your head and focus on what is at your feet. With a diligent attitude and practical actions.